Monday, April 4, 2011

A weekend off, and March monthly spending

Gloomy weather and a lack of anything desperately needed kept me in this weekend.  There are some good deals this week at Rite Aid and a couple decent deals at Walgreens, but nothing is so fantastic that I couldn't put the shopping off a few days.


I do have to hit both stores by Saturday to roll some expiring rewards which shouldn't be too difficult.

We shopped big in March, and that's brought me to a bit of an impasse.  My goal when starting down the path of extreme frugality was to get by on less; it's in the title of my blog, for Pete's sake.  While I've certainly succeeded in living well on drastically less money, I don't have less "stuff."  As a matter of fact, we have more "stuff" now than we ever have. 

I'm not complaining.  I really enjoy having a supply of free shampoo, or stacks of free pasta, or pounds & pounds of free coffee.  It's just...we're running out of space.  Our food storage is fine, but the various health & beauty stuff is multiplying when I'm not looking and, while it's contained fairly neatly in its assigned shelving area, there isn't much room for more. 

It's time that I get a lot more picky about shopping, at least for now.  That's my goal, at least, and I may not succeed at it because who could pass up getting paid to go shopping?  We'll see how that goes....  ;)

March Monthly Spending:
Shelf price: $1,340.68
Total: $519.65
Rewards earned: $461.47
Out of pocket: $56.18, for a savings of $1,282.50 or 96%!!

3 comments:

Catherine said...

It's great to be able to take a week off due to stockpiling! Consider donating some of your extra HBA stuff to a local women's shelter or food pantry.

Sarah said...

Is there someplace that you could donate your extra to and get a tax write off in return perhaps?

Even with coupons we don't get the same kind of absolute steals that you get. I wish I had the spare money to do what this person does:
http://smartcanucks.ca/smartcanucks-community-proud-to-be-canadian-shelter-bags/

Chellie said...

I do donate my "extras" as we get full-up on various items. :) We have a local food pantry that accepts food and basic household goods, and there's a battered women's shelter nearby as well.

There are some items that can't be donated as easily. One type that comes to mind is OTC medicine, especially "night time" varieties. That's the type of stuff I really need to reign in! I have a metric assload of PM painkillers, for example, and my local donation places don't accept these items.